CHAPTER XIV
"When I went into the cuddy, more for relief's sake than to dine, thepassengers were chattering and talking away round the tables, hot andchoking though it was, in high glee because the land was in sight fromthe starboard port-window, and they fancied the officers had changedtheir minds as to 'touching' there. Every now and then a cadet or twowould start up, with their silver forks in their hands, and put theirheads out; some asked whether the anchor had been seen getting ready ornot; others disputed about the colour of tropical trees, if they wereactually green like English ones, or perhaps all over blossoms and fruittogether--the whole of them evidently expecting bands of negroes to linethe shore as we came in.
"One young fellow had taken a particular fancy to have an earthworm,with earth enough to feed it all the rest of the voyage, otherwise hecouldn't stand it; and little Tommy's mother almost went into hystericsagain when she said, if she could just eat a lettuce salad once more,she'd die contented; the missionary looking up through his spectacles,in surprise that she wasn't _more_ interested about the slave-trade,whereof he'd been talking to her. As for Westwood, he joined quietly inthe fun, with a glance now and then across to me; however, I pretendedto be too busy with the salt beef, and was merely looking up again for amoment, when my eye chanced to catch on the swinging barometer that hungin the raised skylight, right over the midst of our noise. By George!ma'am, what was my horror when I saw the quicksilver had sunk so farbelow the mark, probably fixed there that morning, as to be almostshrunk in the ball! Whatever the merchant service might know about theinstrument in those days, the African coast was the place to teach itsright use to us in the old _Iris_. I laid down my knife and fork ascarelessly as I could, and went straight on deck.
"Here I sought out the mate, who was forward, watching the land--and atonce took him aside to tell him the fact. 'Well, sir,' said he coolly,'and what of that? A sign of wind, certainly, before very long; but inthe meantime we're _sure_ to have it off the land.' 'That's one of thevery reasons,' said I, 'for thinking _this_ will be from seaward--sincetowards evening the land'll have plenty of air without it! But more thanthat, sir,' said I, 'I tell you, Mr Finch, I know the west coast ofAfrica pretty well--and so far south as this, the glass falling so lowas _twenty-seven_, is always the sign of a nor'-westerly blow! If you'rea wise man, sir, you'll not only get your upper spars down on deck, butyou'll see your anchors clear!' Finch had plainly got furious at mymeddling again, and said he, 'Instead of that, sir, I shall hold on_everything_ aloft, to stand out when I get the breeze!' 'D' ye reallythink, then,' said I, pointing to the farthest-off streak of land,trending away by this time astern of us, faint as it was, '_do_ youthink you could ever weather that point, with anything like a strongnor'-wester, besides a current heading you in, as you got fair hold ofit again?' 'Perhaps not,' said he, wincing a little as he glanced at it;'but you happen always to suppose what there's a thousand to oneagainst, sir. Why, sir, you might as well take the command at once. But,sir, if it _did_ come to that, I'd rather--I'd rather see the ship_lost_--I'd rather go to the bottom with all in her, after handling heras I know well how, than I'd see the chance given to _you_!' The youngfellow fairly shouted this last word into my very ear--he was in aregular furious passion. 'You'd _better_ let me alone, that's all I'vegot to say to you, sir!' growled he as he turned away; so I thought itno use to say more, and leant over the bulwarks, resolved to see it out.
"The fact was, the farther we got off the land _now_, the worse, seeingthat if what I dreaded should prove true, why, we were probably inthirty or forty fathoms of water, where no anchor could hold for tenminutes' time--if it ever caught ground. My way would have been to getevery boat out at once, and tow in till you could see the colour of someshoal or other from aloft, then take my chance there to ride outwhatever might come, to the last cable aboard of us. Accordingly Iwasn't sorry to see that by this time the whole bight of the coast wasslowly rising off our beam betwixt the high land far astern and thebroad bluffs upon her starboard bow; which last came out already of asandy reddish tint, and the lower part of a clear blue, as the sun gotwestward on our other side. What struck me was, that the face of thewater, which was all over wrinkles and winding lines, with here andthere a quick ripple, when I went below, had got on a sudden quitesmooth as far as you could see, as if they'd sunk down like so manyeels; a long uneasy ground-swell was beginning to heave in from seaward,on which the ship rose; once or twice I fancied I could observe thecolour different away towards the land, like the muddy chocolatespreading out near a river-mouth at ebb-tide--then again it was green,rather; and as for the look of the coast, I had no knowledge of it. Ithought again, certainly, of the old quartermaster's account in the_Iris_, but there was neither anything like it to be seen, nor any signof a break in the coast at all, though high headlands enough.
"The ship might have been about twelve or fourteen miles from thenorth-east point upon her starboard bow, a high rocky range ofbluffs--and rather less from the nearest of what lay away off her beam;but after this you could mark nothing more, except it were that sheedged farther from the point, by the way its bearings shifted or gotblurred together: either she stood still, or she'd caught some eddy orunder-rift, and the mate walked about quite lively once more. The matterwas how to breathe, or bear your clothes--when all of a sudden I heardthe second mate sing out from the forecastle 'Stand by the braces,there! Look out for the topes'l hawl-yairds!'
"He came shuffling aft next moment as fast as his foundered old shankscould carry him, and told Mr Finch there was a squall coming off theland. The mate sprang up on the bulwarks, and so did I--catching aglance from him as much as to say--There's your gale from seaward, youpretentious lubber! The lowest streak of coast bore at present beforeour starboard quarter, betwixt east and south-east'ard, with some prettyhigh land running away up from it, and a sort of dim blue haze hangingbeyond, as 'twere. Just as Macleod spoke, I could see a dusky darkvapour thickening and spreading in the haze, till it rose black alongthe flat, out of the sky behind it; whitened and then darkened again,like a heavy smoke floating up into the air. All was confusion on deckfor a minute or two--off went all the awnings--and every hand was readyat his station, fisting the ropes; when I looked again at the cloud,then at the mates. '_By_ George!' said I, noticing a pale wreath of itgo curling on the pale clear sky over it, as if to a puff of air, 'it_is_ smoke! Some niggers, as they often do, burning the bush!'
"So it was; and as soon as Finch gave in, all hands quietly coiled upthe ropes. It was scarce five minutes after, that Jacobs, who wascoiling up a rope beside me, gave me a quiet touch with one finger. 'MrCollins, sir,' said he in a low voice, looking almost right up, highover toward the ship's larboard bow, which he couldn't have done before,for the awnings so lately above us, 'look, sir--there's an _ox-eye_!' Ifollowed his gaze, but it wasn't for a few seconds that I found what itpointed to, in the hot far-off-like blue dimness of the sky overhead,compared with the white glare of which to westward our canvas aloft wasbut dirty grey and yellow.
"'Twas what none but a seaman would have observed, and many a seamanwouldn't have done so--but a man-o'-war's-man is used to look out at allhours, in all latitudes--and to a man that knew its meaning, _this_would have been no joke, even out of sight of land; as it was, thething gave me a perfect thrill of dread. High aloft in the heavensnorthward, where they were freest from the sun--now standing over theopen horizon amidst a wide bright pool of light--you managed to discerna small silvery speck, growing slowly, as it were, out of the faint bluehollow, like a star in the daytime, till you felt as if it _looked_ atyou, from God knows what distance away. One eye after another amongstthe mates and crew joined Jacobs' and mine, with the same sort of dumbfellowship to be seen when a man in London streets watches the top of asteeple; and however hard to make out at first, ere long none of themcould miss seeing it, as it got slowly larger, sinking by degrees tillthe sky close about it seemed to thicken like a dusky ring round thewhite, and the sunlight upon our seaward quarter
blazed out doublystrong--as if it came dazzling off a brass bell, with the bright tongueswinging in it far off to one side, where the hush made you think of astroke back upon us, with some terrific sound to boot.
"The glassy water by this time was beginning to rise under the ship witha struggling kind of unequal heave, as if a giant you couldn't see keptshoving it down here and there with both hands, and it came swelling upelsewhere.
"To north-westward or thereabouts, betwixt the sun and this ill-bodingtoken aloft, the far line of open sea still lay shining motionless andsmooth; next time you looked, it had got even brighter than before,seeming to leave the horizon visibly; then the streak of air just aboveit had grown grey, and a long hedge of hazy vapour was creeping as itwere over from beyond--the white speck all the while travelling downtowards it slantwise from nor'ard, and spreading its dark ring slowlyout into a circle of cloud, till the keen eye of it at last sank in, andbelow, as well as aloft, the whole north-western quarter got blurredtogether in one gloomy mass. If there was a question at first whetherthe wind mightn't come from so far nor'ard as to give her a chance ofrunning out to sea before it, there was none now--our sole recourse layeither in getting nearer the land meanwhile, to let go our anchors ereit came on, with her head _to_ it--or we might make a desperate trial toweather the lee-point now far astern. The fact was, we were going tohave a regular tornado, and that of the worst kind, which wouldn't soonblow itself out; though near an hour's notice would probably pass ere itwas on.
"The three mates laid their heads gravely together over the capstan fora minute or two, after which Finch seemed to perceive that the first ofthe two ways was the safer; though, of course, the nearer we should getto the land, the less chance there was of clearing it afterwards, shouldher cables part, or the anchors drag. The two boats still alongside, andtwo others dropped from the davits, were manned at once and set totowing the Indiaman ahead, in-shore; while the bower and sheet anchorswere got out to the cat-heads ready for letting go, cables overhauled,ranged, and clinched as quickly as possible, and the deep-sea leadpassed along to take soundings every few minutes.
"On we crept, slow as death, and almost as still, except the jerk of theoars from the heaving water at her bows, and the loud flap of the bigtopsails now and then, everything aloft save them and the brailedforesail being already close furled; the clouds all the while risingaway along our larboard beam nor'-west and north, over the grey bank onthe horizon, till once more you could scarce say which point the windwould come from, unless by the huge purple heap of vapour in the midst.The sun had got low, and he shivered his dazzling spokes of light behindone edge of it, as if 'twere a mountain you saw over some coast orother; indeed, you'd have thought the ship almost shut in by land onboth sides of her, which was what seemed to terrify the passengers most,as they gathered about the poop-stairs and watched it--_which_ was thetrue land and which the clouds, 'twas hard to say--and the sea gloomedwrithing between them like a huge lake in the mountains.
"I saw Sir Charles Hyde walk out of the round-house and in again,glancing uneasily about; his daughter was standing with another younglady, gazing at the land; and at sight of her sweet, curious face, I'dhave given worlds to be able to do something that might save it from thechance, possibly, of being that very night dashed amongst the breakerson a lee-shore in the dark--or at best, suppose the Almighty favouredany of us so far, perhaps landed in the wilds of Africa. Had there beenaught man could do more, why, though I never should get a smile for it,I'd have compassed it, mate or no mate; but all was done that could bedone, and I had nothing to say. Westwood came near her, too, apparentlyseeing our bad case at last to some extent, and both trying to break itto her and to assure her mind; so I folded my arms again, and kept myeyes hard fixed upon the bank of cloud, as some new weather-mark stoleout in it, and the sea stretched breathless away below, like new meltedlead.
"The air was like to choke you--or rather there was none--as if water,sky, and everything else wanted _life_, and one would fain have caughtthe first rush of the tornado into his mouth--the men emptying thedipper on deck from the cask, from sheer loathing. As for the land, itseemed to draw nearer of itself, till every point and wrinkle in theheadland off our bow came out in a red coppery gleam--one saw the whiteline of surf round it, and some blue country beyond like indigo; thenback it darkened again, and all aloft was getting livid-like over thebare royal mast-heads.
"Suddenly, a faint air was felt to flutter from landward; it half liftedthe topsails, and a heavy earthy smell came into your nostrils--thefirst of the land-breeze, at last; but by this time it was no more thana sort of mockery, while a minute after you might catch a low, sullen,moaning sound far off through the emptiness, from the strong surf theAtlantic sends in upon the west coast before a squall. If ever landsmenfound out what land on the wrong side is, the passengers of the_Seringapatam_ did, that moment; the shudder of the topsails aloftseemed to pass into everyone's shoulders, and a few quietly walkedbelow, as if they were safe in their cabins. I saw Violet Hyde lookround and round with a startled expression, and from one face toanother, till her eye lighted on me, and I fancied for a moment it waslike putting some question to me. I couldn't bear it!--'twas the firsttime I'd felt powerless to offer anything; though the thought ranthrough me again till I almost felt myself buffeting among the breakerswith her in my arms. I looked to the land, where the smoke we had seenthree-quarters of an hour ago, rose again with the puff of air, a slightflicker of flame in it, as it wreathed off the low ground toward thehigher point--when all at once I gave a start, for something in theshape of the whole struck me as if I'd seen it before.
"Next moment I was thinking of old Bob Martin's particular landmarks atthe river-mouth he spoke of, and the notion of its possibly beinghereabouts glanced on me like a godsend. In the unsure dusky sight I hadof it, certainly, it wore somewhat of that look, and it lay fair toleeward of the weather; while, as for the dead shut-in appearance of it,old Bob had specially said you'd never think it was a river; but thenagain it was more like a desperate fancy owing to our hard case, and torun the ship straight for it would be the trick of a Bedlamite. At anyrate, a quick cry from aft turned me round, and I saw a blue flare oflightning streak out betwixt the bank of grey haze and the cloud thathung over it--then another, and the clouds were beginning to rise slowlyin the midst, leaving a white glare between, as if you could see throughit towards what was coming. The men could pull no longer, but ahead ofthe ship there was now only about eight or ten fathoms water, with asoft bottom. The boats were hoisted in, and the men had begun to clue upand hand the topsails, which were lowered on the caps, when, just in themidst of the hubbub and confusion, as I stood listening to every orderthe mate gave, the steward came up hastily from below to tell him thatthe captain had woke up, and, being much better, wanted to see himimmediately. Mr Finch looked surprised, but he turned at once, andhurried down the hatchway.
"The sight which all of us who weren't busy gazed upon, over thelarboard bulwarks, was terrible to see: 'twas half dark, though the sundropping behind the haze-bank, made it glimmer and redden. The dark heapof clouds had first lengthened out blacker and blacker, and was risingslowly in the sky like a mighty arch, till you saw their white edgesbelow, and a ghastly white space behind, out of which the mist and scudbegan to fly. Next minute a long sigh came into her jib and foresail,then the black bow of cloud partly sank again, and a blaze of lightningcame out all round her, showing you every face on deck, the inside ofthe round-house aft, with the Indian judge standing in it, his hand tohis eyes--and the land far away, to the very swell rolling into it. Thenthe thunder broke overhead in the gloom, in one fearful sudden crack,that you seemed to hear through every corner of cabins and forecastlebelow--and the wet back-fins of twenty sharks or so, that had risen outof the inky surface, vanished as suddenly.
"The Indiaman had sheered almost broadside on to the clouds, her jib wasstill up, and I knew the next time the clouds _rose_ we should fairlyhave it. Flash after flash came, and clap a
fter clap of thunder, _such_as you hear before a tornado--yet the chief officer wasn't to be seen,and the others seemed uncertain what to do first; while everyone beganto wonder and pass along questions where he could be. In fact, he haddisappeared. For my part, I thought it very strange he stayed so long;but there wasn't a moment to lose. I jumped down off the poop-stairs,walked forward on the quarter-deck, and said coolly to the men nearestme,'Run and haul down that jib yonder--set the spanker here, aft. You'llhave her taken slap on her beam: quick, my lads!' The men did so atonce. Macleod was calling out anxiously for Mr Finch. 'Stand by theanchors there!' I sang out, 'to let go the starboard one, the _moment_she swings head to wind!' The Scotch mate turned his head; but Rickett'sface, by the next flash, showed he saw the good of it, and there was noleisure for arguing, especially as I spoke in a way to be heard. Iwalked to the wheel, and got hold of Jacobs to take the weather helm.
"We were all standing ready, at the pitch of expecting it. Westwood,too, having appeared again by this time beside me, I whispered to him torun forward and look after the anchors--when someone came hastily up theafter-hatchway, with a glazed hat and pilot-coat on, stepped straight tothe binnacle, looked in behind me, then at the black bank of cloud, thenaloft. Of course I supposed it was the mate again, but didn't troublemyself to glance at him further--when 'Hold on with the anchors!' hesang out in a loud voice--'hold on there for your lives!' Heavens! itwas the captain himself!
"At this, of course, I stood aside at once; and he shouted again,'Hoistthe jib and fore-topmast-staysail--stand by to set fore-course!' ByJove! this was the way to pay the ship _head_ off, instead of stern off,from the blast when it came--and to let her drive before it at no trifleof a rate, wherever _that_ might take her! '_Down_ with that spanker, MrMacleod, d' ye hear?' roared Captain Williamson again; and, certainly, Idid wonder what he meant to do with the ship. But his manner was sodecided, and 'twas so natural for the captain to strain a point to comeon deck in the circumstances, that I saw he must have some trick ofseamanship above _me_, or some special knowledge of the coast--and Iwaited in a state of the greatest excitement for the first stroke of thetornado. He waved the second and third mates forward to their posts--theIndiaman sheering and backing, like a frightened horse, to the longslight swell and the faint flaw of the land-air. The black arch towindward began to rise again, showing a terrible white stare reachingdeep in, and a blue dart of lightning actually ran zigzag down beforeour glaring fore-to'gallant-mast. Suddenly, the captain had looked atme, and we faced each other by the gleam; and, quiet, easy-going man ashe was commonly, it just flashed across me there was somethingextraordinarily wild and _raised_ in his pale visage, strange as the airabout us made everyone appear. He gave a stride towards me, shouting,'Who are----' when the thunder-clap took the words out of his tongue,and next moment the tornado burst upon us, fierce as the wind from acannon's mouth.
"For one minute the _Seringapatam_ heeled over to her starboard streak,almost broadside on, and her spars towards the land--all on her beam wasa long ragged white gush of light and mist pouring out under the blackbrow of the clouds, with a trampling eddying roar up into the sky. Theswell plunged over her weather-side like the first break of a dam, andas we scrambled up to the bulwarks, to hold on for bare life, you saw aroller fit to swamp us, coming on out of the sheet of foam--when crashwent mizzen-topmast and main-to'gallant-mast; the ship payed swiftly offby help of her headsails, and, with a leap like a harpooned whale, offshe drove fair before the tremendous sweep of the blast.
"The least yaw in her course, and she'd have never risen, unless everystick went out of her. I laid my shoulder to the wheel with Jacobs, andCaptain Williamson screamed through his trumpet into the men's ears, andwaved his hands to ride down the fore-sheets as far as they'd go; whichkept her right before it, though the sail could be but half set, and sherather flew than ran--the sea one breadth of white foam back to thegushes of mist, not having power to rise higher yet. Had the foresailbeen stretched, 'twould have blown off like a cloud. I looked at thecaptain: he was standing in the lee of the round-house, straightupright, though now and then peering eagerly forward, his lips firm, onehand on a belaying-pin, the other in his breast--nothing butdetermination in his manner: yet once or twice he started, and glancedfiercely to the after-hatchway near, as if something from below mightchance to thwart him. I can't express my contrary feelings, betwixt asort of hope and sheer horror. We were driving right towards the land,at thirteen or fourteen knots to the hour--yet _could_ there actually besome harbourage hereaway, or that said river the quartermaster of the_Iris_ mentioned, and Captain Williamson know of it?
"Something struck me as wonderfully strange in the whole matter, andpuzzling to desperation--still, I trusted to the captain's experience.The coast was scarce to be seen ahead of us, lying black against anuneven streak of glimmer, as she rushed like fury before the deafeninghowl of wind; and right away before our lee-beam I could see the lightblowing, as it were, across beyond the headland I had noticed, where thesmoke in the bush seemed to be still curling, half-smothered, along theflat in the lee of the hills, as if in green wood, or sheltered as yetfrom seaward, though once or twice a quick flicker burst up in it.
"All at once the gust of the tornado was seen to pour on it like a longblast from some huge bellows, and up it flashed--the yellow flame blazedinto the smoke, spread away behind the point, and the ruddy brown smokeblew whitening over it:--when, Almighty power! what did I see as itlengthened in, but part after part of old Bob's landmarks creep outink-black before the flare and the streak of sky together--first the lowline of ground, then the notch in the block, the two rocks like steps,and the sugar-loaf shape of the headland, to the very mop-headed knot oftrees on its rise! No doubt Captain Williamson was steering for it; butit was far too much on our starboard bow--and in half-an-hour at thisrate we should drive right into the surf you saw running along to thecoast ahead--so I signed to Jacobs for God's sake to edge her off asnicely as was possible.
"Captain Williamson caught my motion. 'Port! port, sirrah!' he sang outsternly; '_back_ with the helm, d' ye hear!' and pulling out a pistol,he levelled it at me with one hand, while he held a second in theother. 'Land!--land!' shouted he, and from the lee of the round-house itcame more like a shriek than a shout--'I'll be there though a thousandmutineers----' His eye was like a wild beast's. That moment the truthglanced across me--this was the _green leaf_, no doubt, the Scotch matetalked so mysteriously of. The man was mad! The land-fever was upon him,as I'd seen it before in men long off the African coast; and he stoodeyeing me with one foot hard stamped before him. 'Twas no use trying tobe heard, and the desperation of the moment gave me a thought of thesole thing to do. I took off my hat in the light of the binnacle, bowed,and looked him straight in the face with a smile--when his eye wavered,he slowly lowered his pistol, then _laughed_, waving his hand towardsthe land to leeward, as if, but for the gale, you'd have heard himcheer. At the instant I sprang behind him with the slack of a rope, andgrappled his arms fast, though he'd got the furious power of a madman,and, during half-a-minute, 'twas wrestle for life with me. But the linewas round him, arm and leg, and I made it fast, throwing him heavily onthe deck, just as one of the mates, with some of the crew, werestruggling aft, by help of the belaying-pins, against the hurricane,having caught a glimpse of the thing by the binnacle-light. They lookedfrom me to the captain. The ugly topman made a sign, as much as to say,Knock the fellow down; but the whole lot hung back before the couple ofpistol-barrels I handled. The Scotch mate seemed awfully puzzled; andothers of the men, who knew from Jacobs what I was, came shoving along,evidently aware what a case we were in.
"A word to Jacobs served to keep him steering her anxiously, so as tohead two or three points more south-east in the _end_, furiously as thewheel jolted. So there we stood, the tornado sweeping sharp as a knifefrom astern over the poop-deck, with a force that threw anyone back ifhe left go his hold to get near me, and going up like thunder aloft inthe sky. Now and then a weaker flare o
f lightning glittered across thescud; and, black as it was overhead, the horizon to windward was but onejagged white glare, gushing full of broad shifting streaks through thedrift of foam and the spray that strove to rise. Our fore-course stillheld: and I took the helm from Jacobs, that he might go and manage toget a pull taken on the starboard brace, which would not only _slant_the sail more to the blasts, but give her the better chance to make thesole point of salvation, by helping her steerage when most needed.Jacobs and Westwood together got this done; and all the time I waskeeping my eyes fixed anxiously, as man can fancy, on the last gleams ofthe fire ashore, as her head made a fairer line with it; but, by littleand little, it went quite out, and all was black--though I had taken itsbearings by the compass--and I kept her to that for bare life, tremblingat every shiver in the foresail's edge, lest either it or the mastshould go.
"Suddenly, we began to get into a fearful swell--the Indiaman plungedand shook in every spar left her. I could see nothing ahead, from thewheel, and in the dark; we were getting close in with the land, and thetime was coming; but still I held south-east-by-east to the mark of herhead in the compass-box, as nearly as might and main could do it, forthe heaves that made me think once or twice she was to strike nextmoment.
"If she went ashore in my hands! why, it was like to drive one mad withfear; and I waited for Jacobs to come back, with a brain ready to turn,almost as if I'd have left the wheel to the other helmsman, and runforward into the bows to look out. The captain lay raving and shoutingbehind me, though no one else could either have heard or seen him; andwhere the chief officer was all this time surprised me, unless themadman had made away with him, or locked him in his own cabin, in returnfor being shut up himself--which, in fact, proved to be the case,cunning as it was to send for him so quietly. At length Jacobs struggledaft to me again, and charging him, for Heaven's sake, to steer exactlythe course I gave, I drove before the full strength of the squall alongdecks to the bowsprit, where I held on and peered out. Dead ahead of uswas the high line of coast in the dark--not a mile of swell between theship and it. By this time the low boom of the surf came under the wind,and you saw the breakers lifting all along--not a single opening inthem! I had lost sight of my landmarks, and my heart gulped into mymouth--what I felt 'twould be vain to say--till I thought I _did_ makeout one short patch of sheer black in the range of foam, scarce so faron our bow as I'd reckoned the fire to have been; indeed, instead ofthat, it was rather on her weather than her lee bow; and the more Iwatched it, and the nearer we drove in that five minutes, the broader itwas. 'By all that's good!' thought I, 'if a river there is, that must bethe mouth of it!' But, by Heavens! on our present course the ship wouldrun just right upon the point--and, to strike the clear water, herforeyard would require to be braced up, able or not, though the force ofthe tornado would come fearfully on her quarter, then. There was thechance of taking all the masts out of her; but let them stand tenminutes, and the thing was done, when we opened into the lee of thepoints--otherwise all was over.
I sprang to the fore-braces and besought the men near me, for God'ssake, to drag upon the lee one--and that as if their life hung uponit--when Westwood caught me by the arm. I merely shouted through myhands into his ear to go aft to Jacobs and tell him to keep her head a_single point_ up, whatever might happen, to the last--then I pulledwith the men at the brace till it was fast, and scrambled up again tothe bowsprit heel. Jove! how she surged to it: the little canvas we hadstrained like to burst; the masts trembled, and the spars aloft bentlike whip-shafts, everything below groaning again; while the swell andthe blast together made you dizzy, as you watched the white eddiesrising and boiling out of the dark--her cutwater shearing through it andthe foam, as if you were going under it. The sound of the hurricane andthe surf seemed to be growing together into one awful roar--my verybrain began to turn with the pitch I was wrought up to--and it appearednext moment we should heave far up into the savage hubbub of breakers. Iwas wearying for the crash and the wild confusion that wouldfollow--when all of a sudden, still catching the fierce rush of the galeathwart her quarter into the fore-course, which steadied her though sheshuddered to it--all of a sudden, the dark mass of the land seemed as itwere parting ahead of her, and a gleam of pale sky opened below the duskinto my very face. I no more knew what I was doing, by this time, norwhere we were, than the spar before me--till again, the light broadened,glimmering low betwixt the high land and a lump of rising level on theother bow.
"I hurried aft past the confused knots of men holding on to the lee ofthe bulwarks, and seized a spoke of the wheel. 'Tom,' shouted I toWestwood, 'run and let free the spanker on the poop! Down with thehelm--down with it, Jacobs, my lad!' I sang out; 'never mind spars orcanvas!' Down went the helm--the spanker helped to luff her to thestrength of the gust--and away she went up to port, the heavy swellsrolling her in, while the rush into her staysail and fore-course came inone terrible flash of roaring wind--tearing first one and then the otherclear out of the bolt-ropes, though the loose spanker abaft was in lessdanger, and the way she had from both was enough to take her careeninground the point into its lee. By Heavens! there were the streaks of softhaze low over the rising moon, under the broken clouds, beyond a farline of dim fringy woods, she herself just tipping the hollow behind,big and red--when right down from over the cloud above us came a spoutof rain, then a sheet of it lifting to the blast as it howled across thepoint. 'Stand by to let go the larboard anchor!' I sang out through thetrumpet; and Jacobs put the helm fully down at the moment, till she wascoming head to wind, when I made forward to the mates and men.'Let--go!' I shouted; not a look turned against me, and away thunderedthe cable through the hawse-hole; she shook to it, sheered astern, andbrought up with her anchor fast. By that time the rain was plashing downin a perfect deluge--you couldn't see a yard from you--all was one whitepour of it; although it soon began to drive again over the headland, asthe tornado gathered new food out of it. Another anchor was let go,cable paid out, and the ship soon began to swing the other way to thetide, pitching all the while on the short swell.
"The gale still whistled her spars for two or three hours, during whichit began by degrees to lull. About eleven o'clock it was clear moonlightto leeward, the air fresh and cool: a delicious watch it was, too. I waswalking the poop by myself, two or three men lounging sleepily about theforecastle, and Rickett below on the quarter-deck, when I saw the chiefofficer himself rush up from below, staring wildly round him, as if hethought we were in some dream or other. I fancied at first the matewould have struck Rickett, from the way he went on, but I kept aft whereI was. The eddies ran past the Indiaman's side, and you heard the fastebb of the tide rushing and rippling sweetly on her taut cables ahead,plashing about the bows and bends. We were in old Bob Martin's river,whatever that might be.